MBTA / Keolis Commuter Rail Real-Time Live Mapping (2024)

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1. Choose a line:
2. Follow one of these trips:
   or follow a car:
   or you can just Right-Click on a marker on the map to follow it!
3. Marker display options:

   Show train heading arrow:

   Show train info on marker:

   Show verbose marker labels:

4. Marker label options:

   Choose a label:
   

   See Also

   As MBTA’s subway struggles, commuter rail gains riders: ‘It’s way more consistent and faster’ - The Boston Globe

5. Map movement options:

   Pan & zoom to fit:

   Each time show/hide options are changed, automatically move & zoom the map to fit only the visible markers:
6. Show only trains which have had their location changed or updated in the last:
   
   (Note: The last position change / update could be from train movement
   or just from the marker loading on this map.)
7. Show on the map only the trains which have their next arrival or departure within:
   
8. Marker Clusters:
   

   On(default)

   Off

   Note: When enabled, marker Clusters can be momentarily disabled by pressing "Shift" at any time.
9. Turn the Google transit map layer:

   On(default)

   Off

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• This page will automatically load new train data from the MBTA as they become available. Subway train position data are typically updated every 15 seconds.


• You can move your cursor over a train marker on the map to have an information balloon pop up with detail about that train. (Mobile device users tap on a marker.)A link in the info balloon lets you view the official MBTA schedule for that line and direction on mbta.com. Tip: to quickly dismiss an info balloon, press the "Escape" key.


• A double-click on a marker will zoom in on that train. (Mobile device users double-tap.) When zoomed in, a double-click or double-tap on the marker will instead zoom back out to the region overview.


• You can "follow" a train to its destination by any one of four methods:
  
  
  1. Choose a train (by leading car number) from the lists (Option 2)
  
  
  2. Right-click on a marker on the map
  
  
  3. Click or tap on the car number in the table of mapped trains
  
  
  4. Click / tap the car number link in the pop-up info window of a train marker
  
  
  While following a train, the map will move so that the train you've selected will remain in the center of the map until you stop following it, or until it no longer appears in the data feed.


• If red clusters of markers are being displayed, click / tap on the cluster icon to zoom in and see more or all of the trains in that cluster. (Clusters appear when there are too many trains in one area to reasonably show individual markers.) Marker clusters can be turned off in the options section, number 8. Also, marker clusters will come and go as you zoom in and out using the standard Google Map navigation methods.


• Marker clusters can be quickly toggled on/off by pressing the "Shift" key.


• Train position markers can be set to indicate many different things. In the options section (number 4) you can choose to show the destination, on-board display sign, direction, and more.


• This web application is able to detect popular mobile devices (for example iPhone and Android) and should display a mobile version of the map when viewed on a handheld device.


• Page scrolling note: In most web browsers, the normal page scrolling movements up or down using a mouse wheel or trackpad (or page up / page down keys) are interpreted by Google Maps to be a Zoom In / Zoom Out or map movement action. If you want to scroll this entire web page up or down you need to first position the cursor on the white space outside the Google Map pane. Also a spacebar press should scroll the entire page down in most browsers. iPhone users can scroll this page up & down by dragging the white borders on the left and right of the map.


• This application is designed to be a mapping and visualization tool for those interested in subway operations. Although I didn't design this to be an application for daily commuters, it can be used for trip prediction with great success. I do in fact use this for my own commute, to and from Boston, five days a week!

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